


Scientific Experiments

by walking_through_autumn



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 21:36:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1111780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walking_through_autumn/pseuds/walking_through_autumn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Eren squirms when he sees Hanji and doesn't quite know why. </p>
<p>Written for an SnK Kink Meme prompt, where Eren realises, quite out of the blue, that Hanji is beautiful and capable, and he does not know what to do with these feelings unrelated to titans or training.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scientific Experiments

**Author's Note:**

> Bringing in the new year by posting fics written in the old year. 
> 
> Featuring lovestruck Eren, devious Hanji, and concerned Levi. 
> 
> Enjoy, and have a very Happy New Year!

The thing about Hanji losing her experiment subjects is that she clings to Eren even more now. Possibly because he’s a compliant test subject who wouldn’t die on her all of a sudden. It also means that besides Moblit, who has a permanently harried look on his face and like he’s considering resignation, Eren is given the job of tolerating Hanji in all her moods.

The sobbing and clinging is highly uncomfortable. Eren doesn’t know how to comfort people, never has – when Armin had sobbed because of the bullies Eren would sit next to him, ranting at the unfairness of the world and the idiocy of the bullies, and gradually that would bring a small smile to Armin’s face. When Mikasa had lost her family the only thing he had known to do was to give her his scarf. He didn’t know what to do with a crying Hanji. Talk about how they would find other test subjects? Reassure her that Bean and Sawney are, uh, sleeping peacefully now? He makes a face at that and pats at her back, hoping he isn’t patting too hard. Eventually Hanji’s sobs die down and she snuggles against his shoulder, falling asleep right there.

Eren supposes he isn’t the only one affected by a night of non-stop titan talk. He’s tired, but his body just wouldn’t sleep after the shock of the Bean and Sawney attack, and he doesn’t know what to do. He could let Hanji keep using his shoulder, but he really should wake her up and move her to her bed properly. Because his brain doesn’t know what to do and isn’t able to think, it decides to focus on the way Hanji’s eyelashes flutter against her cheekbones when she sleeps. Without the obstruction of her glasses it’s like he can count the number of eyelashes. He counts, loses count, and gradually his breathing synchronizes with hers.

Two hours later it’s Hanji who shakes him awake with a determined look on his face. She says something about honouring the memory of Bean and Sawney by not letting the experiment results go to waste, stuff that Eren isn’t able to understand. What he does understand though is that there’s a strange disappointment stirring in him when he sees she has put her glasses back on – and a curiosity to find out more.

Find out more about what?

He decides he just needs to get more sleep at night to shake this weird feeling off.

.

Four days and two experiments later, as Eren is sitting in her lab and listening to Hanji explain the results of the most recent test, he finds himself focusing on her lips as she talks. There’s nothing special about her lips – they’re not small and dainty like Mikasa’s, or wide and thin like Ymir’s. But they’re so expressive. He doesn’t even really need to understand the words to know what she’s feeling. They curve up at the edge at the slightest excitement Hanji feels, flatten into a hard line when she’s unhappy about some decision the higher-ups make, and twitch when she’s excited to tell him something. He watches the way they move until he realizes, seconds too late, that they are still and that Hanji is watching him with a strange light in her eyes.

“Y-yes?” he asks, trying not to sound as though he had been caught red-handed.

Hanji smiles then, a slow thing that spreads to the edge of her lips and makes her eyes crinkle at the edge. It’s as though her eyes are laughing. “Do you understand what I just said, Eren?”

“Um.” What had she been talking about? Chances are about some titan experiment that took place a year and a half ago that nobody except her cares about. But Hanji is looking at him with this knowing look – like she knows he’s not listening, and he’d better not lie to her about it. He flushes and drags his eyes away from her lips. “I’m sorry, I lost focus.”

Hanji hums and props her cheek up on her palm. “Well, it’s no matter, you must be tired. It must be lunchtime in any case.”

He hadn’t realized so much time had passed. In an attempt to sound normal Eren says, “Oh, yeah, I think it’s Petra’s turn to cook something today. We should go before all the food is gone.”

Hanji laughs then, drawing his attention back to her. “Yeah, we should!” she says.

Eren is relieved. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, but whatever it is, he only knows he doesn’t want Hanji to find out about it. It’s some mixture of guilt and curiosity and happiness that makes him squirm whenever she looks at him. He smiles at her then nods.

Then freezes, because if it isn’t his imagination fucking with him, it looks as though – it looks as though the pink tip of Hanji’s tongue is peeking out from between her lips and wetting them. Eren’s eyes widen, his hands grip at his thighs, and he jumps up from the chair, legs tangling with the metal and making him almost trip over himself.

“I-I’ll go first, then!”

He doesn’t wait for her response before he rushes at the door and yanks it open. She has a superior rank to him, so really he should do the proper salute or something before leaving, this is too informal, he could really get in trouble. But all he hears from her is a tiny laugh, which makes him want to look back again except he really, really shouldn’t.

He peeks back anyway. Hanji is peering at him over her glasses, eyes intent and mischievous in a way he had never seen before. Eren swallows, nods, and gets out as fast as he can without being rude.

He wonders why his heart is beating so hard.

.

Three days later, during breakfast, Hanji requests Levi to lend her Eren for another day of experiments. Eren drops his half-eaten bread on the plate and spreads crumbs everywhere. Levi gives him a look of horrified anger.

So he ends up cleaning the whole dining area before Hanji is allowed to zip past and drag him to the courtyard. By then he’s sweaty and self-conscious and squirming in Hanji’s grip, trying to get her to loosen her arm. But she just hugs him closer with her arm and Eren’s shoulders stiffen.

“Don’t be nervous!” she says, which has the opposite effect of making him more nervous than he already is. She leans close to him, and trapped with her arm there’s only so far Eren can lean back. Her eyes are sparkling, clear even behind her glasses. “It’s just a routine thing, I want to see how well you can control your titan form, that’s all.”

Right. Yeah. A routine thing. “O-okay,” Eren says, hoping that will get her to back out of his personal bubble. He’s not sure if the experiment will go fine, with his fuzzy head and heart beating too fast and sweaty palms. Maybe he should tell her he’s sick.

But before he can open his mouth to say anything more she leans closer to him and says, all earnest eyes and expression, “You’ll help, won’t you, Eren?” And then she smiles. She smiles like she knows he’s thinking of backing out, and he’s never before noticed how deep the colour of her eyes were, like rich, dark chocolate that he’s only seen in stores –

Eren gulps and manages to say, his voice cracking, “Of course.”

.

And two days later, late at night, way past everyone’s bedtime, Hanji sits Eren in her weird mixture of bedroom and research area and starts talking to him about his progress, what he should focus on in the next experiment, her thoughts on possible tangents they could take, and all Eren can think of is why couldn’t she do this in the day and in the dining room instead of in her room where all he can think of is _the whole room smells like her_.

The small part of him that’s listening to her ramble on is quite amazed that even after all the experiments Hanji can think of more things to do. He had thought Armin is the smartest person he knows. Now he sees that if he puts Commander Erwin, Hanji, and Armin in the same room, the world might possibly end from the things they come up with.

The larger part of him that’s not quite connected to his brain is focused on the way Hanji’s collarbone looks really nice in that shirt and there’s a small, dark shadow where the skin ends and the shirt covers the rest of her torso. He finds himself wondering what he’ll find beyond that shadow and it makes him feel weird in his lower tummy.

He starts to sweat. Maybe it’s just the amount of candlelight and heat in the room.

“So I was thinking, if maybe we can get Levi to agree to let you move around in the forest near the castle, we can do some dexterity exercises, see how well you can move among the trees – that’ll be a huge help to future missions if you – Eren, are you listening?”

From her tone he knows she had asked a question. Eren tries to not blush and says, “Yes?”

“What did I last say?” Hanji asks, leaning forward and, shit, he can see a little more skin that way.

“Uh.” Eren fumbles and tries to look anywhere but at her. “Trees?”

Hanji’s lips twitch like she’s trying to be stern but is failing. “Yeah, that’s part of it, to be sure. You’re kind of red. Are you okay?”

And then she’s standing from her chair and coming to crouch in front of him, where Eren has a very, very nice view down her shirt. He squeaks when she leans her forehead against his. “You do feel a little warm,” she says, all concerned, soft voice and large eyes. This close he can see the odd twinkle in them. “Do you want to take a break tomorrow?”

There’s a bead of sweat on her upper lip. Eren thinks he wants to lick it off.

Okay, this is getting way past weird. He scrambles back and falls on his ass, cushioned only by a pile of paper. Hanji’s room is piles of paper and oh this is unfair, how can _paper_ smell like her?

“I – yeah – break!” Eren says, trying to stand. “It’s, it’s late, I think, I think I need to, um, you know – ”

“You could sleep over here tonight, I’ll keep it a secret from Levi,” she suggests.

Something in Eren’s mind explodes. The thought of the bed and the pillows which will smell like her and shared body warmth, and her breaths close to him –

He squeaks and says, “No! No, no, I’ll, I’ll just – ” He waves weakly at the door – “I won’t disturb you any longer – ”

“Are you sure?” Hanji asks, lips pressed together so hard he knows she’s, she’s…okay, he doesn’t know what she’s thinking. Her eyes are very bright though.

“Yes!” He’s scrambling now, heading in the general direction of the door without knowing what he’s knocking over. “G’night, Miss Hanji!” He manages not to trip over his legs, which are weak at the knees for no good reason.

“G’night then.” And is there a reason why she has to say that so soft and sweet, unlike her usual deep voice when she talks about titans? Eren decides he should stop thinking. Now.

The moment he’s out and has closed the door, he slides to the ground and tries not to whimper. There’s something very wrong with him. And he can hear Hanji laughing behind the door, maybe because he looked so stupid trying to crawl out the room, and it just makes him flush harder.

.

“Why are you toying with that brat?”

“Hmmm? What do you mean, Levi dear?” Hanji says, coy, chin resting on a loose fist as she looks out the window.

“You know what I mean. Playing with that hormonal brat,” Levi says, looking unimpressed.

Hanji laughs. “Who says I’m just playing with him?”

Levi narrows his eyes like the answer is obvious.

From the window there is a nice view of the wide courtyard where Eren is practicing with Erd and Gunter. Unlike when Eren is listening to the results of the experiments from her, his eyes are focused and he’s gritting his teeth, concentrating on getting the move right and listening to the instructions of his seniors. It’s the third time he’s trying this particular maneuver and he’s close to perfecting it.

The shine in his eyes is arresting, Hanji thinks, fingers drumming on the windowsill.

He flies up, doing a sharp twist and turn, practicing the difficult maneuver which will allow him to escape from tight spots and he’s almost got it down, just needs to get his balance right –

They meet eyes and Eren stills for a second. Then he’s falling.

“Fucking useless brat,” Levi mutters, eyes narrowed. “How did he even get fifth in his class?”

Hanji smiles. “He’s a good boy. He keeps trying.”

“I mean it, Hanji – stop toying with him.”

Levi’s eyes are serious, and he actually used her name. Hanji thinks it’s cute how he’s concerned for his subordinates, even if getting the truth out of him is like pulling teeth. There’s a warning in his eyes, a message that even if they’ve known each other for years he will not hesitate to end her if she messes with his subordinates.

Hanji’s smile hardens. “Like I said, Levi – who says I’m just playing around?”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated :)


End file.
